Freight-transferring apparatus



B. F. FITCH.

FREIGHT TRANSFERRING APPARATUS.

7 APPLICATION FILED JUL-Y 7,1921- 1 1,437,968. Patented Dec. 5, 1922.

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B. -F. FITCH.

. FREIGHT TRANSFERRING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 711921- Patented D0 0. 5, 192 2.

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B. F. FITCH.

FREIGHT TRANSFERRING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 7.1921.

Patented Dec. 5, 1922.

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BnNJAr/nnr. rr'rcrr; or EVANSTON, ILLINOIS.

FREIGHT-TBANSFERRING Humm s. v I

Applicationfiled July 7,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN l FITCH, acitizen of the United States,;residingat Evanston, in the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Freight-Transfer- Apparatus, of which the following is afulT, being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to a systemffor handling freight such as is usedfor exampie, in a terminal station for the distri-' 'bution' of packagefreight in less-than carload lots. My invention is particularlyapplicable in connection With 'a system for handling freight whereinremovable automobile bodies aroused for storing and transportingfreight. Such a system is set forth in Patent No. 1,275,145, issued tomeon August 6, 1918.

In handling package freight "involving less than carload lots, it isnecessary, particularly'at terminal stations, to break bulk for removingsome or all of the freight, and

transferringit either to sub-stations or to cars for direct linemovement.

the platform, and by hand trucking the freight from one car to anotheracross the These transfer cars are then destined either for direct linemovement or for substation transfer for similar rehandling anddistribution.

In handling and distributing frei 'ht at terminal stations considerableage individually from atransfer truck to the platform, and then from astorage space on the platform to the proper car. Ordinarily, freightbrought to the station in the morning of one day is not moved until thefreight is positioned near one end of the platform and the car destinedto receive the; freight' is'located nearthe other end thereof;

This, :of course, necessitates considerable time for hand trucking,tendsto .congest traflic at the freight station. a To eliminate thedelay incident to hanclear, and exact description, reference Usually,this transfer is accomplished by positioning the cars to be loaded andunloaded adjacent I package 1 and consequently 1921. Serial No.482,926,:

package freightfmay be stored in removable automobile bodies, andtransferred to a terminal station, Where provision is made for inboundand outbound railroad lines. 'In transferring the freight betweenthecars and bodies, my invention contemplates further a particularrelation" between the inbound and outbound lines and the bodies, so thatduring one period of'the day the e11- tire platform may be' employed asaninbound station and during another period as an outbound station.Inthis connection, myvinvention tends to decrease the time employediintrucking each package from the cars-to the bodies, and vice versa byarrangin'g'suitable overhead hoisting mechanism Which is adapted toengage a body, raise it, transport it overhead, and depositit inposition adjacent the car which is being emptied orloaded, as the casemay be.

To install a system according to my in vention, the requirements forexpensive realty adjacent present terminal stations is dispensed With,and since the freight'may be brought to and from the stationby'automobile trucks and therefore'the transferf acquired is'materiallyless in cost. In this connection, my invention provides for necessaryexpansion, suchexpansion being 30f complished merely by' addingsections. 1 5J5 building to the existing structure -and by ex-T tendingthe inbound and outbound lines'fa proportionate amount.

inafter fully described, and the essential characteristics and featureswill be set forth in'the claims.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan view of V The means for ac-'complishing the above objects Will be herea portion of a freightterminal station hav- 1 ing inboundf v hues and havmg provision forreceivlng removable .automoblle bodies; "Fig; 2 1s a vertical sectiontaken longitudinally through and outbound 'transportation thestation'shovvn in Fig. 1 ;'Fig.3 is an end 5 .vieW' of such station.

freight wherein removable automobile My invention centemplatesin generalthe provision of a system for" handling package bodies are employed fortransferring the" freight from one station to another within a city orwithin the limits of the truck operation. In this connection, myinvention provides for facilitating the transfer of package freight at abreak bulk point.

Accordingly, in the various figures l have,

shown a terminal station as having a platform 10, which supports columns11 of an overhead structure, indicated generally at 12. The space on theplatform extending longitudinally of the platform and between thecolumns constitutes a storage space for removable automobile bodies 13,while the space outside the column, as at 14 and 15, constitutes a truckrunway for the hand trucking of freight to and from the bodies.

The station platform 10 is arranged to be positioned intermediate setsof railroad tracks 16 and 17 on which are positioned cars 18 and 19which may be designated inbound or outbound respectively. Adjacent oneend of the platform, I provide an auto mobile truck runway 20, and Iprovide means for removing; an enclosed body from an automobile truck insuch runway, for raising it, transporting it and then depositing it uponthe platform 10.

The station proper may extend the entire length of the platform 10 andmay be constructed of sections which are arranged tobe placed end toend, 1n accordance with the length of the station desired. The space between the columns in which the bodies are positioned is preferablyslightly greater than the length of one of the bodies positionedtherein, and the bay length is preferably sufficient to permit twobodies to be placed side by side between adjacent columns.

As a means for raising and transporting the bodies lengthwise of theplatform, I have shown'an overhead, crane, indicated genen ally at 25,which travels on the wheels 26- and is supported on the rails 27, theserails be ing carried by the inner portions of the columns 11. theplatform is such that one body may be raised and transported overheadand across another body positioned on; the platform.

In l have shown the crane trackway 2'? extending over the automobilerunway 20, and l have shown the crane as provi dedto engage a body tolift it from the truck 29 for transportation to a suitable location on.the platform. B y providing an overhead crane for transferring thebodies from one point to another, it is therefore; possible to decreasethe width of the crane runway to an amount which only slightly greaterthan the length. of a body, this being due to the fact that no space isrequired betweenthe columns and bodies for d trucking or for otherpurposes. The hand truckinc 14 l 15' on each sideof't +2 pro/leeSIlfllCiQ-filt for ill-Z11 The distance of the crane above with a cradle29 which is adapted porting packages between the and bodies. To protectsuch platforms, l provide canopies 8i) and 31 on each. side of thebuilding 12.

Each removable automobile body provided with a door 35 on each endthereof, which door may be of any suitable ccnstriu= tion, butpreferably of the removable type. vi hen the bodies are placed upon theplatform in the position shown in Fig. 1, then as soon as the doors areremoved from either end, the contents may be quickly transported betweenthe bodies and the railroad cars p0 sitioned on the sideof the platformadjacent the open end of the body.

Whenever it is desired to place the body nearer to theca-rtoor fromwhich the contents are being transferred, it is only neces. "v to engagesuch body by the crane, lift it, L ansport it overhead and then depositit adjacent the car in question. By arranging the body transversely ofthe platform and by constructing; the platform so that the: crane runwayis approximately the length of the body, then the necessary distance fortrucking between a car and body is decreased to a minimum, and thereforconsiderable time is saved in the course of a working day.

Assuming that a station shown in 1 is located at the break bulk point,and that the cars 18 and 19 loaded; with inbound transfer, or foranyother point, then the freight within the cars 18 and l9=hand trucked thetruck runway 1e, and dispersed into the bodies in accordance with thedestination to: which the freight is consigned. Usually, the practice tohave one body held until is is entirely loaded with freight consigned toone point, but if the contents from one car is not sufiicient to loadsuch body then the body i-nay' be raised overhead: by the crane 25 anddeposited adjacent another loaded; car. As soon as eachv body is loaded;it is sealed and transferred to an unloaded automobile truck in therunway 20.. and l11J- med-i..tely dispatched to its destination. lnreturning from the destinatiton, the automobile trnck may bring backanother empty body or a loaded body in accordance with. the orders of adispatcher who controls tl ie various stations of the city by telephoneor otherwise.

The unloading of the inbound cars is carried 0nsim-ultaneously along theentire plat form and the loaded bodies are dispersed to theirdestination as soon as they are completely loaded. Assuming; then thatthe re turning automobile trucks convey bodies loaded with outboundfreight, then the; bodies are immediately deposited on the plat form andas near as possible to the car desi-pnal l Then as sooii iyis zoes asall of the inbound carsare unloaded the entire station may affordedby'the arrangement'of thebodies adjacent the station'lines," andthe'arrows in-l dicate the route of travel-between the cars and bodies.

By arranging the transportation lines and the bodies as shown thestation may be handled as an inbound 'sta'tionior as an [out- However,if it" bound station at onetime; is so desired, both: the'inbound andoutbound frelght may be dispersed 7 simultaneously,

without having the men who are workingon the inbound sideCOIlfi1Ct1I1g"W1th:tl1OSe who are employed on the {outbound side.

' away, the emptyinbound'cars' theii'become the outbound side and thetram loadof; n

' outbound tracks.

Under the latter arrangement the entire bulk of inbound freight may beunloaded" within afew hours andin lil-zemannerthe outbound" freight maybe loaded 'in the same time) Then as 'soonas theoutboundcars are pulledbound freight may be placed on the former Since each body i s providedwith a door way in'each end thereof, it is, of course," obvious that thelJIBVIISPOSItIOH of the 'ininto the cars in such manner that a train ismade up for direct line movement at the break bulk point so that it isunnecessary to transport the cars to a classification yard for furthercar classification.

vantage of such system is thatthe freight" v need be handled only once,and that the amount of trucking required between the cars and bodiesisreduced to a' minimum by.

reason of the fact that the portable storage containers may be quicklyshifted in accordance with the position of the cars being loaded orunloaded; In addition, it will be seen that I have provided a systemwhich is I readily adapted for expansion in accordance with therequirements for freight being handled. i

Having thus described my invention, I claim: 1. In combination, astation platform,

I changed into an out bound station,- and the contents of the loadedbodies dispersedintothe'respectivecars; The

I dotted lines'in Fig. l shoW the convenience a rowof removableautomobile 'bodiesfeX-f I H thdreoffportable containers positioned in a7 row ion thefplatform and *intermediate',jsaid inbound and outboundtransportation; cars platform and'on each side thereof,atrucktransportation lines extending on each side" tliereofypoi 'tablecontainers positioned in 213,: row o'n'the platform; and intermediate sadw lines,'each of said containers having a doorway inopposite*wallsthereof, whereby 710 freight maybe transferred from either of saidlines' directly intogthecontainers 2. 1m combination, station platform,

tending along the c'enter jthereof; setsf'fof railroad tracks one oneach side of the plat-'1 form and longitudinal trucking sp'acesl-reespectively intermediate the row 'of: bodies and'the adjacent track,whereby freight may i i be transferred directly bet andithe carsonthe'tracksr p 31111 c n m .platforim transportation" lines" extending1 on h i c lines, "each ofsaid containers having a'do'or way in oppositewalls thereof, .saidiplatform's having "a" longitudinal -'truckin'g.space {on I each side of said ii'ow. between it andx the ad 7 jacentftransportation line, whereby fre ght mayzbe tr;ansferre'd" fromelthe-ri line into;

:the container without shifting the'containerjf ongthe pIatfOrmJT qua.1,; V-ffIn combination, a station platform and on each side of theplatform, removable automobilebodies adapted torbe positioned side byside transversely of the platform and a longitudinally movable travelingcrane at such elevation above the platform" that it may raise a bod'yandtransport it" H over other bodies} 5. In combination, a station iplatform, i

railroad tracks extendinglengthwise of the runway at one end of theplatform, a set of removable automobile bodies adapted to I bepositioned in a row along the' middle portion of the platform, anoverheadstruo ture extending lengthwise of the platform, and meanscarried by "said structure for 1 transporting bodies'fbetween the runwayand platform, one body passing over another, said, platform having a.width providing space on each side of the bodies'for trucking' to and.from the railroad cars. -6. In combination a station platfornnya I rowof removable automobile bodiesyextend! ing along the center thereof,railroad tracks" on each side of the platform anda truck 1120 7 spaceintermediate the row of bodies and .r i

of said tracks and each 'of said bodies'hav ing a doorway inopposite'wallswhereby freightmay be transferred between the bodies andcars positioned on the tracks. y.

form over one another. i

7. In, combination, a statlonlplatform :J

ice j and a row of removable automobile bodies attending; longitudinallythereof each of said bodies having a doorway in opposite Walls thereof,and each of said bodies be ing positioned transversely of the platform,

an enclosed structure extending over the bodies, means carried by saidstructure for raising and transporting bodies longitudinally of theplatform, railroad tracks e2:- tending along each side of the platform,

two hand trucking runways, each intermediate the row of bodies and oneof said tracks. I

' 8. In combination, a station. platform, transportation cars on eachside of the platform, removable automobile bodies positioned side byside transversely of the platform, each of said bodies having a doorwayin the Wall adjacent theside of the platform, whereby frelght betransferred 7 simultaneously between-the bodies and either of saidset'sof'cars.

-9. in combination, a statlonplatform, a

set of removable automobilebodies positioned in a row and transverselyof the platform, setof railroad cars on each side of the platform, atruck runway transversely of the platform and at one end thereof,

each of saidbodies having a doorway in the ends facing thesides of theplatform,

transport ng the bodies overhead between the runway and, plat-form,whereby a body may be shifted longitudinally of the plat form to bringit adjacent the car being loaded or unloaded.

.10.. In combination, a. station platform, a setof railroad tracksextending lengthwise of the platform and on each side; thereof, a truckrunway atv one end, of the platform, a set of removable. automobilebodies posi-' tioned side by side along the middle portion andtransversely of the, platform, each of said bodies having a doorway inopposite ends thereof, an enclosed structure extending over the body andover the runway, and means carried by said structure for transportingbodies between the runway and platform, said structure having a Widthslightly greater than the length of the bodies to be transported.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto alfix my signature. I BENJAMIN F.FITCH.

